


Admiral Sparky and the Leaping Librarian

by ElaineB



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Quantum Leap
Genre: Gen, Humor, Mystery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-26
Updated: 2014-11-26
Packaged: 2018-02-27 02:51:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2676242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElaineB/pseuds/ElaineB
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam leaps into an unusual situation in a library - not your average leap!<br/>Co-written with my sister Anne.  Originally appeared in Our Favorite Things 19.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Admiral Sparky and the Leaping Librarian

The tingle of Sam Beckett's latest leap faded, and he looked around to get his bearings. The room was dimly lit, but it appeared to be a library. An empty library, at the moment. He was wearing tweed and a pair of wire-rimmed glasses perched on his nose. A cup of tea steamed gently near his right hand, and a notepad and several open books lay in front of him. He must be doing research.

'Demons?!' he thought as he perused the pages of the closest book. He blinked, turned a page, then glanced at the notes written in a handwriting that looked neat, precise, and vaguely European.

"All right, Buster, who are you, and what have you done with Giles?" Next to the wooden table where he sat, stood a petite blonde, hands on her hips. He started to ask what on earth she meant, but a look at the fierce expression on her face made him think she was no one to mess with, despite her small frame.

"Oh, boy..."

"Uh, Buff, he sure looks like the G-man to me," an angular young man with dark hair, long around the ears, spoke up from behind her. He peered at Sam.

"C'mon, Xand, didn't you see that flash of light? This guy appeared like our very own blue light special. And somehow I don't think the Hellmouth is selling anything we want to buy." She turned back to Sam, wisps of her blonde hair flying. "Well, are you going to tell me, or do you need persuasion?" She pulled a wooden stake, pointed on one end, out of a bag on her hip.

/Al, where are you?/ Sam thought. He held up his hands toward the girl, placatingly. "Ah, I'm still on your side," he said. /I hope./

"Well, I should hope so." A short red-haired girl unconsciously echoed him as she pushed past the young guy, who was looking from him to the blonde. "Giles, what's going on?" she said.

"I told you, Will, this ISN'T Giles."

"But, Buffy," she said carefully, "he really does look like Mr. Giles."

"Not to me. My Sla-" She cut off what she was about to say. "Trust my spidey sense, okay? This is not Giles," the blonde told her companions without taking her eyes off Sam. "Think about it, guys - he didn't even grimace when you called him G-man, Xander, and when have you EVER heard Giles say 'Oh, boy'?" she concluded triumphantly.

The red-headed girl and the dark-haired boy exchanged glances, still a little doubtful, but then stepped up to flank the blonde. Xander squinted at Sam. "So, where is Giles? He may sometimes be a boring Brit, but he's our boring Brit, so I don't like people messin' with him."

"Don't tell 'em anything, Sam! You know the rules!" Al exclaimed from the other side of Sam, causing the time traveler to jump in startlement. "Ooh, watch the stake, Sam! She looks a little too handy with that thing!"

Putting a hand to his forehead, Sam slanted a look of disbelief at his holographic friend, who was obliviously pushing buttons on his handheld device and muttering. He didn't see the way Buffy reacted when Al appeared, the stake unerringly pointing toward the man she shouldn't be able to see.

Sam's shielding hand encountered the glasses on his nose and he took them off, stalling, wondering what to say. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, eyes closed, suddenly tired. How many times would he have to go through this sort of thing? Well, not exactly this sort of thing… He didn't see the uneasy looks exchanged by the young people. When he looked up, beginning to polish the glasses with a handkerchief he found in his pocket, he saw the three faces staring at him.

"What?"

Uneasily, the guy asked quietly, looking sideways at Sam, "Buffy, are you sure that's not Giles?"

The young people looked at each other, clearly confused, then Buffy looked at Al. "Does anybody else see someone right over there?' She jabbed in his direction with the stake.

"Hey! Watch that!" Al flustered, backing up.

At the same time two bewildered voices assured Buffy that they didn't see anyone where she was pointing.

She turned back to Sam "Okay, Buster, I am seriously freaked now. I suggest either you or your invisible friend here give me some answers or I'll find a way to convince you." She suddenly grinned, nastily for such a pretty young girl. "How do you feel about vampires?"

"Vampires?" Sam and Al both echoed, exchanging uneasy glances.

"No such thing," said Al fiercely after a moment's hesitation.

Buffy rolled her eyes. "You are so without a clue," she told Al as Willow and Xander eyed Sam, waiting for more of a response from the man they thought was Giles.

Sam cleared his throat, looking at the stake in her hand and the determination on her face. "Uh, Buffy, you know how I feel about vampires," he ventured cautiously.

"Correction – I know how Giles feels about vampires." She grinned that nasty grin again, eyes glinting as she balanced on her toes, stake at the ready. "I'm still waiting to hear your position on the undead."

Something settled in Sam's mind, and he knew what to say. "They're evil," he told the three teenagers flatly. "You – we fight them, don't we."

Al looked at his friend as if he'd lost his mind. "Uh, Sam, do you really think you should be feeding these adolescent delusions?"

Buffy gave an unladylike snort of laughter. "Get this, guys – sparkly guy here," and she gestured to the empty space next to the librarian, "thinks we're delusional if we believe in vampires."

"Dead Boy might have a little problem with that idea," the boy drawled. "I kinda do myself."

"Xander!" Buffy snapped in exasperation. "Don't call Angel 'Dead Boy'!"

"Sorry." The dark-haired teenager didn't look particularly repentant. "So what are Not-Giles and sparkly guy doing here, huh?"

"Excuse me, what did you say about the Hellmouth?" asked Sam suddenly.

"Oh, it's just over there," Buffy gestured across the room. "It's closed now - unless you know something we don't?"

In the background, Xander whispered urgently to the red-haired girl, "Who mentioned the Hellmouth?"

"Shush," she replied quietly. "Buffy did, back when we first got here."

Uneasily, Sam hastily assured Buffy, "Not about that!"

"Watch it, Sam," Al interjected. "We need to find out what they know, NOT the other way around."

"Uh," Sam fumbled, "I mean, I'm sure you know as much or more than I do about the ... Hellmouth." He looked back down at the book open in front of him. "Perhaps I should review some of these notes."

"Buffy!" the red-haired girl exclaimed. "What if these people - or whatever they are - are here just to get hold of Giles' notes and books?"

Looking at the pair dubiously, Buffy began to reassure her friend as Al said, "Uh, Sam, I think I'll go see what I can find out from ... um, in the Waiting Room." He glared at Buffy as he punched buttons on his device.

She stuck her tongue out at him before he disappeared. "Really, Willow, whatever these guys are into, I don't think it's demons and... Wait a minute. What did he mean by the Waiting Room?"

"Waiting room?" Xander echoed. "This is getting stranger by the second."

As Sam searched his mind for a plausible answer, Willow offered diffidently, "Well, if that’s not Giles, but somebody else, then maybe Giles – the real Giles – is in a waiting room of some kind. Sorta weird to think of a demon waiting room, but then – Hellmouth, anything can happen, right?"

"Good thought, Wil. Okay, not-Giles – where is this Waiting Room, and how do we get my, uh, our librarian back?" She tilted her head at him. "Sparkly guy called you Sam," she said consideringly. "I think you better tell us what's going on, Sam."

The time traveler was beginning to get the impression that the situation he had leaped into was anything but ordinary. For that matter, the blonde girl – Buffy, the others had called her – was probably not the typical teenager, either. Which made Giles – what? More than a librarian, arguably, and more than a 'boring Brit' as the young man had called him. "Uh…" He looked at the books in front of him again. "Look. Is there something I'm supposed to be working on here? Or rather, Giles is?" he added hastily. Al wasn't here to yell at him, and this blonde could see right through him. Actually, right through TO him...

The three young ones had been exchanging uneasy glances, but now Buffy stepped forward, shaking her head. "It's still my turn with the questions, Buster."

"Couldn't you humor me, just a little?"

"Actually," Xander spoke up, "you've... I mean, Giles has been researching something he wouldn't tell us squat about."

"You're right!" Willow said. "Oh, no. And now you don't know what it is either." She looked dismayed. "Buffy, did Giles give you any clue we don't know about?"

"Well, he did say he wasn't sure it was even something we'd need to know about. He made it sound no big deal, but he was sorta touchy about my asking."

Holding his head, Sam said, more or less to the books, "Maybe it's something else anyway."

"Maybe what's something else?" Buffy demanded. She looked to her redheaded friend and the two of them said together, "The reason you're here?"

"How'd they DO that, Sam?" Al demanded, reappearing behind Sam.

Sam jumped then subsided with a sigh. "Never mind, Al. Have you got anything for me? Please?"

Al frowned. "Blondie here can hear me," he said, gesturing at Buffy with his cigar. "You think it's a good idea for me to just blurt out this kind of stuff?"

Exasperated, Sam told him, "Somehow I don't think she's going to believe I need to make a sudden trip to the restroom. And - Xander, was it? – would probably follow me, anyway," he added, eyeing the other two young people. "Just give, Al. What's going on?"

"A lot of nonsense, if you ask me," Al grumbled. "Vampires, witches, demons… If Ziggy didn't have the police report, I'd think you were here to make sure the men in white coats came to get this guy!"

"What police report?" demanded Buffy coldly. "Anything from the Sunnydale police isn't likely to be too accurate."

"That's for sure," Willow agreed. "How many gangs on PCP do they think there are in Sunnydale, anyway?" Xander snickered.

Al scrutinized the three young people dubiously, and looked back down at his hand link. "Well, anyway, what the police report says is that a drug lab blows up and ..."

"A drug lab blows up!" Buffy exclaimed. "Right. I wonder what really happened."

"What would a drug lab have to do with Giles?" Xander asked.

"And what do you mean, "blows up"?" Buffy pounced. "Does that mean it hasn't happened yet?"

"Ooh, ooh, that's it, Buffy!" Willow was practically bouncing. "Whatever it is it HASN'T happened yet and we're supposed to stop it. Right?" She turned to Sam.

"Well, technically, I'm supposed to do that," he said. "Close your mouth, Al. You're going to lose your cigar."

"Whatever you do or don't do, we are going to be involved." Buffy spoke for the three of them. "So go ahead, Sparky. What else is in that report? And did you talk to Giles?"

"Not that that did any good," Al muttered. "He just wanted to know why there weren't any mirrors."

"Why wouldn't there be any mirrors?" the blonde asked.

"No mirrors?" Willow said nervously. "Buffy…"

"Way ahead of ya, Wil," the blonde said, then gestured with the stake again. "Okay, Sam, step away from the books. Willow here wants to play Research Girl, and I wanna see if you have a pulse."

"I'll do that, Buff; you keep an eye on Sparkly Guy," inserted Xander as Sam, after a startled moment, backed away from the library table, then held out one hand, carefully palm up and open, to Xander.

"What are you talking about?" Al asked querulously. "Of course he's got a pulse."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure he does," Buffy replied. "You, on the other hand…" She advanced on Al, who moved away, for the moment forgetting she couldn't touch him. "What kind of demon are you?" she asked. "Can't say I think much of your fashion sense."

He looked down at his outfit, which was mostly shiny silver, with accents of neon pink and lime green. Then he took in Buffy's outfit - which today was a micro mini with a tank top - and gave an almost involuntary grin. He shook his head and looked at the other two young people. "Ah, tastes change. Some of us aren't in our teens any more. Anyway, he didn't..."

But Buffy didn't let that go by, but cut in. "Right," she said incredulously. "Giles is way definitely out of his teens, and he wouldn't be caught ... well, he wouldn't wear that."

"Well, then we're even, because I wouldn't wear tweed!"

"Children," Sam interrupted and snorted as they both glared at him. "This really isn't helping. Buffy, he's a hologram. No pulse, no touching of any kind. And not the kind of demon you mean. Al, there must have been something else you got from Mr. Giles."

"If you're done insulting me," and he looked pointedly at his friend as well as the blonde, "I was going to say that the first thing Giles said in the Waiting Room, I'm told, was 'What on earth kind of magic has she gotten me into?"

Sam and Buffy chorused, "She?"

"Oh, no," Xander groaned. "Don't tell me there's somebody else here from Ripper's past… We so don't need to be taken over by our costumes again."

Sam and Al looked at him in blank bewilderment. "Ripper?" said Sam, the same time as Al said, "Taken over by your costumes?"

Willow and Buffy cocked their heads at him, too. "Well, think about it, guys," Xander urged them. "How many 'she's' are there in Giles' life? I'm figuring it can't be either of you two or you'd know more about what's going on. I've seen he and Ms. Callender eyeing each other a bit, but I don't think that's gone anywhere yet. So who does that leave who's a she who could get Giles into trouble with magic?"

"Somebody from his Ripper days," Buffy concurred with a sigh. "Just great. Let's hope Ethan isn't involved, too. I still have this strong urge to rip his lungs out through his nose."

"Uh, colorful as that image is," Al said with a grimace, "could we take a time-out here to catch us up on the scorecard?"

"Somehow I think answers from you guys need to show up before we give you even headline news."

Instead of answering, Sam looked beyond the three. "Uh, hello. Can I help you?" A young blonde girl stood in the library door, looking uncertain. He didn't think she had been there long. At least he hoped not.

"Amy, hi," Willow said, looking up from Giles' notes. "Whatcha lookin' for?"

"Hi, Will. Have you seen Kimberly? This is where I've been finding her lately."

"Kimberly? Oh, Kim with the black hair from English class?"

"Yeah, Kim. She likes it when I call her Kimberly. We were supposed to meet..." She pointed vaguely back out the door. "Well, if she comes in, would you tell her I was looking for her, Mr. Giles?"

"Certainly," Sam answered, after only a tiny pause.

As Amy left the library, Xander turned back to Sam and raised his eyebrows. "Well, well, well, the plot thickens. What do you suppose Kim has been doing in the library lately?" He turned to Buffy. "Maybe this is the 'she' in question?"

Buffy spoke decisively. "Willow, catch up with Amy and see what you can find out about Kim. Something tells me the two of them have been getting into something a little stranger than English homework. You, Sparky, go check in with Giles. See if Kim is the one who's been giving him the wiggins."

Sam stifled a grin at Al's sputtering indignation, and nodded his concurrence for the plan. Muttering comments about 'bossy females', Al stabbed at the buttons on his handlink and disappeared.

"Is he always like that?" demanded Buffy, hooking a thumb at the place where Al had stood. "Excitable type, I guess," she added to Xander, still standing beside her.

"Something like that," Sam replied through a fond snicker. He sobered quickly, though, at the sight of the stake still in her hand. "Look, I know this is pretty weird, but I am here to help. I don't know exactly why yet, but if I'm here, it means I can do something your Mr. Giles couldn't, or wouldn't know to do for some reason." He sighed. "Normally I wouldn't be telling you this, but then normally you wouldn't be able to see that I’m not who I look like…" Absently, he picked up the no longer steaming tea. 

"We're used to weird," Xander told him. "Ever since Buffy came, we've been really used to weird. Well, come to think of it, Sunnydale has always been weird, in a lots of people die all the time type of way, but, anyway, we can deal. Even if I can't see Sparkly Guy," he said in a disappointed tone.

"Sparkly Guy, uh, Al, isn't here right at the moment, Xander, so you're not missing out on anything in that vein. Do you think you could, um, tell me more about Sunnydale? And the 'weirdness'?" Sam asked. He took a sip of Giles' tea. "Frankly, Buffy," he continued, turning to the blonde, "it's kind of a relief to be able to ask questions about all the references the three of you made that I don't understand. Usually, I have to fake it… Buffy?"

"You know, Sparkly Guy looked kind of familiar," Buffy said, her face thoughtful. "The whacked-out pimp clothes threw me off, but - Hey!" she broke off. "I think he's supposed to be wearing a uniform."

"Oh, great," drawled Xander, "an invisible undercover narc."

"I don't think so," Buffy murmured. "Hey, you okay?" This to Sam, who was choking helplessly, trying to wipe up the splattered tea with the handkerchief he had previously used to clean Giles' glasses.

When he could get a breath despite the laughter still shaking him Sam said, "I have to tell him what you said about his clothes. Preferably when we're not here any more, of course. Oh, and Xander, there is no way Al is a narc. Invisible to you, yes. Undercover - I don't think so." A fresh burst of laughter shook him. "Sorry. Can I try a question again?"

Willow burst through the library doors. "I couldn't catch up in time. Amy's in a class. I'll catch her later."

"Class? Are you three supposed to be in class?"

Buffy spared him an impatient glance and spoke to Willow. "Remember in American History we had this bit on the astronauts? Wasn't there one called Cattle Vicious or Calcium Vick, or something like that? He's still around, but he's an admiral now. Do you remember?" Ignored, Sam started snickering again, almost unable to stop.

"I kinda do," Willow said. "But Buffy, you remember something from History class?"

"Well, sometimes. This one had a back story that grabbed, okay? Anyway, that's who Sparky looks like."

"Admiral Calavicci or whatever is invisible now? Buffy, this sounds weird even for Sunnydale."

The library doors opened again, and a black-haired girl entered. "Oh, Mr. Giles, you're busy. I'll see you later about that project of mine." And she turned to leave.

"Hey, Kim," said Willow. "Amy was looking for you a little while ago."

Buffy looked at Sam. "Talk to her," she mouthed insistently where Kim couldn't see her.

"Amy? Oh, yeah, I guess she said something about looking at my notes," the black-haired girl said. "I guess I'll just go back to study hall."

"That's okay, Kim," Buffy told her. "We were just looking for some books. Now that Mr. Giles has told us where they are, we'll be up in the stacks." She smiled, showing most of her teeth, and moved away.

"Books?" echoed Xander. Willow grabbed his arm. "Oh, yeah, uh, we'll just be up here…" He trailed off, pointing up the steps after Buffy, then trailing after Willow.

"Yes, Kimberly, come in," Sam said invitingly. "What would you like to talk about?"

"I told you," she said angrily, "it's private." She lowered her voice. "You wouldn't want me to tell Principal Snyder about those weird books of yours, would you?"

"Watch it, Sam!" said Al, suddenly appearing. "This little witch is a blackmailer, and she wants the man's bod. I can't imagine why, myself, but – oh, and he says the 'witch' part is literal, too. At least she thinks so."

"And which weird books would those be, Kimberly? The ones locked in my office?" Sam hazarded. "I would think he might be more interested in what you were doing snooping, don't you? Now what on earth do you want that you thought you had to use blackmail to get it?"

Listening avidly, Al winced. "You call that tact, Sam?"

"You know very well what I want. I want you - "

A snicker from the stacks stopped her.

Kimberly frowned in that direction, where no one was visible. Turning back to Sam, she lowered her voice. "I want your time, your attention..."

Al rolled his eyes and Sam grimaced slightly. "I'm sorry, Kim, if you felt it would take extra persuasion for me to pay attention to you. I'm available to you, indeed to any of the students, during the school day, here in the library."

"Not as a librarian!" the girl said with exasperation. "And not here." She turned quickly and walked toward the door. "Just meet me where I told you. And don't bring the peanut gallery." With a final glare toward the stacks, she slammed out the door.

“Well, I guess we know now why Giles didn’t want to talk about it,” Buffy said, as they reappeared from the stacks.

Xander smirked. “Yeah, I can’t imagine him wanting to tell us about a student who wanted to jump his bones. And may I say, euuw.”

“Xander!” Willow smacked him on her way to the books on the library table. She plopped herself down and turned a page. “Hey!” she exclaimed. “Here’s a picture of a demon a lot of wannabes try to summon. Azanel… Ooh, wow, he must ‘get’ a lot of them, too, because he’s tricky and they’re too dumb to know how to word their contracts with him.”

The angular young man leaned over her shoulder to see what she was talking about. “Okay, so it’s the demon who wants Giles,” he said, sounding relieved. “Wait, what’s up with that? Eeuw, again!”

In the meantime, Buffy was addressing Al after glancing at the picture in the book. “Okay, Admiral, you said you had the police report. You wanna tell us where this big bang is gonna happen, and if there was anyone else there?”

“I only skimmed it before,” Al replied, looking to his handlink. “Wait a minute, what – admiral?”

His eyes went wide in indignation. “Sam, you been telling tales out of school?”

The time traveler tried hard not to laugh again, holding up his hands. “Not me, Al, I didn’t say a word.” He chuckled in spite of himself.

As Calavicci continued to sputter, Buffy rolled her eyes. “The police report?” she said, pointedly.

Still mumbling, Al went back to the handlink. After some poking and smacking, he said sullenly, “The explosion happened at an old warehouse down by the docks. There were two bodies found, Rupert Giles and a Kimberly Taylor.”

“Kimberly,” said Buffy, nodding. “Okay, here’s what we do.” She was suddenly decisive. “You guys distract Kim, and I’ll take care of the demon. End of story.”

“Wait a minute, Buffy,” Sam said worriedly. “What are you going to do about the demon?”

“Kill it, of course,” the blonde replied matter-of-factly, heading for the weapons cage. Al watched her go, then said something quietly to Ziggy. As he watched the handlink’s screen, his eyebrows went higher and higher.

“Kill it? Of course?” Sam echoed uneasily. “But, Buffy –“

“Never mind, Sam. She can handle it,” the hologram said, looking dazed.

Willow, in the process of picking up the books and papers on the table, heard that and beamed at her friend. “Hey, Buffy, you get famous!”

The petite blonde didn’t look very thrilled with that idea. “I’m already as famous as I need to be in the vamp nests of Sunnydale. Come on, let’s go.”

 

“This is the place?” Buffy said dubiously as they stood outside a dilapidated old warehouse building. She shrugged. “Let’s do it.”

“Wait a minute, Buffy,” Sam said. “Al can go in and scout the place so we have a better idea where Kimberly is in relation to the demon, right, Al?”

“And what if the demon can see me? Thought of that, Sammy?” Al did not look at all happy with his assignment, but he walked through the wall anyway.

Buffy blinked at the sight. “Wow. Neat trick.”

“Sparkly Guy does tricks and I can’t see ‘em?” whined Xander. “How fair is that?”

Sam felt like he had fallen unwittingly into the middle of a comedy routine, but Buffy and Willow both ignored the boy and his comment. A moment later, Al popped back out through the wall, gesturing with his cigar. “Okay,” he said. “Kim is just a few feet inside the main door, a little to the left. The, uh, demon is in the back next to some kind of firepot and a pile of weeds or something.” He looked faintly unnerved.

“Gotcha, Columbo. Is there a back door to the place?” Buffy demanded, hefting the ax she had chosen to bring.

“Yeah,” Al replied, “around that way,” pointing to the right of the building, this time carefully with the hand not holding a cigar.

“Wil, you go in first and try to talk to Kim,” Buffy ordered. “Keep her attention on you. Al, keep an eye on Willow. Xander, you and Sam slide in behind Wil to back her up if necessary. Give me a minute or so to get around the back, okay?”

Willow nodded. “Okay.”

“Roger wilco,” said Xander with a grin.

Sam still wanted to protest, but he watched the nonchalant way the blonde teen handled the ax and didn’t speak. Al just watched admiringly as she walked away.

“Al,” Sam warned quietly, “put your eyeballs back. She’s a little young for you, isn’t she?”

“Hey, nothing wrong with admiring the scenery,” Xander chimed in cheerfully, because he had been looking in the same direction. “Except, eeuw, isn’t he in our history books?” He shuddered. “Just how old is Sparkly Guy, anyway?”

Willow rolled her eyes, then took a deep breath and started for the warehouse door. “Show time, guys. Don’t be too far behind, okay?”

“Don’t worry, Wil. I got your back.” Xander squared his shoulders.

“I’ll take her front,” Al said. “Er, I mean, I’ll go with her and let you know if she needs help, Sam.” He disappeared through the building’s door just before Willow reached to open it.

The redhead slid inside quietly, leaving the door ajar, and stood for a moment to let her eyes adjust to the dimness inside. Kimberly Taylor was seated on a blanket on the floor, clad in something that looked like a slip, with her gaze directed at her hands.

“So, Kim,” Will said calmly after a moment, “what did you ask Azanel for?”

Kimberly stood up with a jerk. “Willow! What are you doing here? Don’t tell me Mr. Giles sent you! And what do you know about Azanel?” She started toward Willow, looking wild-eyes and upset.

At that moment, crashes and grunts were heard from the back of the building. “Not so fast, Butt-face!” Buffy yelled, and a huge thud followed. The girl with the black hair looked behind her, clearly torn as to what she should do. “What have you done?” she demanded. “Azanel!”

There was no reply from the demon. Sam and Xander came up to flank Willow, reassuring her that she was not alone against the agitated witch. “I’ll check on Buffy, Sam,” Al said.  
“Do you think we should go see if Buff needs help?” Xander asked.

A strange, gargling scream sounded and suddenly cut off.

“I’d say not,” said Willow, still watching Kimberly, who now looked about to faint.

“Sam, get everybody out of the building!” Al said frantically as he rejoined them. “Buffy’s fine, but something tipped over in the back, and I think things are about to go ‘boom’ really soon!”

Sam didn’t hesitate. “Come on, we have to leave now,” he told the teenagers, making herding motions with his hands.

“Boom?” asked Willow.

“Boom,” Sam confirmed tersely.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Kim said defiantly. “You can’t make me.”

“Hey, fine,” Xander drawled. “You wanna blow up and be called a drug chemist, go for it.”

“We can’t really leave her here,” Sam protested.

Xander shrugged. “On second thought, I can too make you,” he told Kim just before he slung her tiny frame over his shoulder. He headed to the door, ignoring the hands smacking against his back. “Coming?” he said to Willow with a smile.

“Already gone,” she replied, opening the door wider. “But wait a minute, Buffy is still –“

“Al said Buffy is fine. She must have gone out the back way,” Sam said, pushing the teens through to the outside.

“What took you guys so long?” Buffy demanded. “I was beginning to think I’d have to come in and get you!” She sniffed at the substance on her axe and made a face. “Come on, let’s get a little further away from the building.”

“Good idea,” Al said as they moved. “Tell ‘em to get down, Sam.”

“Time to get down,” Sam ordered.

“Three, two, one…” said Al. “And boom.” The back of the building exploded, and pieces of it flew through the air.

“Hey, Wil,” Buffy said, eyeing her arm with disgust. “You didn’t tell me that thing was going to slime me.” The explosion might never have happened by her demeanor.

“Don’t worry,” the redhead said cheerfully. “It should disappear in a minute or two.”

“Huh.” Buffy watched her arm, nose wrinkled. “I guess so. But I’m still gonna go take a shower. A long shower.”

As they all picked themselves up off the ground, Xander looked like he wanted to make a comment on Buffy’s shower suggestion, but wisely closed his mouth instead.

“Al, you’re staying with me,” Sam said with authority.

Al sighed with regret. “Never mind, Sam, I don’t think we’re gonna be here much longer anyway. Get ready, kid.”

Buffy squinted at Sam. “Wow, you’re getting almost as shiny as Admiral Sparkly Guy.”

Xander wasn’t listening. “What I want to know,” he said as he helped Kimberly up, “is what our little witchy-poo wanted from Azanozzle or whatever his name was.”

“Hey, guys, say goodbye!” said Buffy.

“Goodbye?” said Willow.

“Sam’s going all glowy, and Admiral Sparky is now see-through,” the blonde informed her friend.

“And please don’t tell me it was Giles,” Xander continued, oblivious to the other conversation.

“Oh, puh-lease,” Kimberly said, tossing her black hair. “If I were going to get my wish, it certainly wouldn’t be for some moldy old librarian.”

“I beg your pardon,” said Giles, sounding very embarrassed and very British.

Willow and Xander did a double-take as Buffy smiled. “Giles!” exclaimed Willow happily.

“G-Man, you’re back!” Xander grinned from ear to ear.

“Xander, how many times must I ask you not to call me ‘G-Man’?” the librarian said with weary distaste. “Back?” he echoed a moment later. “Where did I go?”


End file.
